Planting Hibiscus Seeds

I have had the best luck soaking Hibiscus or rose seeds for about 36 hours using a oil base heater under a card table & keeping the heat on them after I plant them. I have had seeds come up 3 to 5 days after planting them. If you use hot water it will cool down in about 1 hour & the heat on them over night will soften them up

Without heat most of them take about 4 to 6 weeks to come up & I use 4" of a good mixture so they will drain good & won't damp off.
Jerry.

Thank you

Hi Jerry,

Question, do they sprout better in the dark or do they need light? I soaked 12 seeds in hot water overnight, then planted them in Jiffy Mix, set them on a sunny window sill. After 4 weeks only one seed has germinated. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks.

Red

Red.. When I soak my seeds I keep heat under them & then plant the seeds with the same heat under them also & that soffens the hard seed & they will sprout a lot quicker, When you soaked your seeds the water might have cooled down after about 1 hour & they didn't get a chance to soffen the seeds very well. (That is why I keep heat on them until they sprout).

I don't know what your seeds are getting for sunlight But I keep grow lights on mine about 12 hours a day.

I have tropical & hardy hibiscus but grow only seeds from the hardy hibiscus. I also grow roses & grow a lot of them from seed, I should have 200 roses from seed this year & several from cuttings.
Jerry.

Thanks Jerry. Guess I'll give it another try. ☺

Red.. I use an oil based heater & then that way you shouldn.t have any chance for any fire,I put the heater under a card table & the heat is close to the seeds.

The heat will work for several kinds of seed. We are getting ready for the Iowa roundup May 6th here in Des Moines at the Fort Des Moines park, Iowaron & myself are putting on the roundup for the second year in a row.
Jerry.

I got a late start seeding my seeds, but than I kept them damp in paper towels overnight, and very carefully nicked the seed coat at the rounded side. I than planted them, barely burried, and put them on a 80 degree propogation mat under lights. Over 1/2 the seeds are up, many within 3 days to a week. I do not know how old the seeds were when I received them, but I had them since November, and only got to them about 2 weeks ago. I suspect that the rest of the seeds have either rotted or not viable (due to either age, possible damage in shipping--I has some crushed seeds, or just were not viable naturally). This is my second attempt with seeds. The first time, I had much the experience you describe. I suspect that the first time the seeds never had the moisture penetrate their seed coat and I planted them just a bit to deep. The bottom heat after planting also seems to make a huge difference.

MythMouse..Don't give up on the seeds that havn't came up because some take a little longer even though they are fron the same pod, Sometimes I have had some come up as much as a month later.

You will find that if you cross 2 colors & then cross the same 2 colors the next year they could be of a different shade of color, The only true way to get the same color of the parent plant is to take cuttings.

I also grow roses from seed & from cuttings, I have over well 200 roses & I have several seedlings comming up now & many cuttings that are starting to get new leaves, I keep them in the basement under grow lights until it get warm enought to put them out.
Jerry

Thanks for the advice. I just lost 3 seedlings to dampening off. Grrr!!! By the way, what is your favorite blend for seeding? Or do you just by a premade mix?

I just use a premix & I mix peat moss with it, It will drain a lot better with the peat moss with less damp off.
Jerry.